Newsletter

City Talk: Expecting a good plan for the old Plant Riverside

I probably sound like a broken record to regular readers, but the big City Talk story of 2012 was the surge in major investment in underutilized properties in the greater downtown area.

And that’s likely going to be a big story in 2013, too.

On the last day of 2012, according to a great piece by Adam Van Brimmer in this paper, hotelier Richard Kessler purchased Georgia Power’s old Plant Riverside at the west end of River Street.

There’s talk of a boutique hotel anchoring the redevelopment of the 3.79-acre site. I’ve heard of possible interest from a small chain of unique hotels that really would bring something different to town. In any case, the sale is good news.

Plant Riverside had been sitting vacant for way too long. The ugliness of the property and the absence of a riverfront promenade have been key reasons the west end of River Street has struggled in comparison to the east end.

Kessler’s company built and operates the Bohemian Hotel overlooking the river and owns the Mansion on Forsyth Park. Every modern downtown building has its detractors, but I think both fit well with their historic surroundings.

The Bohemian is particularly noteworthy for its rooftop deck and for how vibrantly the building meets both Bay and River streets.

So there’s plenty of reason to think Kessler’s company will do a fine job with the old power plant.

Still, we should expect a few key elements in the plan.

The property should include a riverfront walkway.

And the final design should incorporate as much of the original plant’s brick façade as possible.

You have to be on the river to fully appreciate the elegant old building, but it’s a gem we shouldn’t lose.

And we should avoid any temptation to alter the current height map for the site.

City officials should also be making plans right now for handling major construction, since it’s easy to imagine some of the work shutting down traffic on a few key blocks of River Street.

Since cars on River Street can only go from west to east, any disruption to traffic flow will hurt the visibility of existing businesses. Of course, there’s also a new hotel planned for the site directly across River Street from the old power plant.

Minimizing disruptions should be a priority.

How much tourism do we want?

We all expected a hotel on the Plant Riverside site, but the news comes at a particularly sensitive time for residents of the Historic District.

At 6 p.m. Jan. 8, at the Coastal Georgia Center on Fahm Street, the city of Savannah and the Tourism Advisory Committee will host an open house to discuss tour services.

According to the press release: “The goal of the Open House is to bring together stakeholders — residents, businesses, students and preservationists — to help identify issues and develop solutions to balance tour services and quality of life issues. This will serve as the framework to formalize recommendations, which will be presented to the city manager and City Council for consideration in February 2013.”

That open house comes on the heels of a tour company’s request to operate double-decker buses in the Historic District.

That request has raised myriad questions about noise, congestion, privacy and the protection of our tree canopy.

As it is, many downtown residents feel like they’re living in a fish bowl. Imagine how they’ll feel with bus riders able to stare into second-story windows.

And Tuesday’s meeting also comes as the debate about cruise ships seems likely to heat up.

In a resolution in October, the Downtown Neighborhood Association reasonably called for “an open and transparent discussion of the merits of constructing a cruise ship terminal in Savannah with public funds.”

In a letter to Mayor Edna Jackson and the rest of council, DNA President Henry Reed said in part: “As the recession recedes and new development opportunities arise, we believe Savannah needs an overarching vision — what do we want Savannah to be like in 2050 — to guide specific development decisions.”

Absent a clear vision, we will simply default to the short-term demands of the marketplace.

And that means more and more tourists in the Historic District, even if other economic sectors would spur more job growth and better enhance the quality of residential life in the long run.

By the way, it seems pretty clear that the needs of downtown residents would carry greater weight if there were simply more Savannahians living in the Historic District and surrounding neighborhoods.

I’ll follow up on that in an upcoming column.

City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net and www.billdawers.com. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.